Market Intelligence returned on May 30 with its customary frank analysis of the situation in the leather industry. By Leatherbiz.

This time, we have a hopeful message about leather’s prospects for replacing plastic. The arguments in favour of leather as a better choice in many applications than problematic plastic are clear, but as Market Intelligence points out, consumer-facing companies, especially those that have courted vegan customers in recent years, will need to show a bit of courage to return to leather.

That’s for the future. Less optimistically, the report also puts a figure on the decline in leather production in the current market. Its calculation is that production in Europe is, on average, at 60% of capacity at the moment.